


Favors from the Sun and Moon

by umkimkai



Category: EXO (Band), SHINee, f(x)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Fantasy, Multi, Other Untagged Characters, Untagged Characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-09-06 20:47:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8768710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umkimkai/pseuds/umkimkai
Summary: Soojung, the Nymph and Guardian of a forest, watches two boys fall in love under her watch, and she doesn't know if she falls in love with their love, or with them.





	1. Un

**Author's Note:**

> This was written entirely on impulse and is unbeta'd so please let me know if there are mistakes
> 
> P.S. I will go down with TaeKaiStal I'll take it to the grave and to heaven to thank God for such an amazing power trio

Soojung has seen her fair share of star crossed lovers. Being the immortal queen of an ancient forest comes with its fair share of giggling couples stumbling down mushroom lined paths and bramble framed deer runs; each searching for the same thing, a place to hide and love from prying eyes. But Soojung pries. And the Moon chastises her for it in a gentle voice but she ignores her, focusing on the love that grows amongst her groves. 

 

Soojung lives on love. On the love flowers sing to the sun when they spread their petals each morning, on the love the trees rumble when their roots hit groundwater. It all goes straight to Soojung, filing her heart and her eyes with a rosy glow. And being filled with so much love and happiness means her forest is thriving, and Soojung can relax among beds of lilies, exchanging sarcasm with snapdragons and listening to the Sun’s tales of adventure until it gets red from exhaustion and slips away, and then the Moon rises, telling Soojung to sleep, to leave the lovers in her forest alone. 

 

But Soojung can’t help it. Her own loves have been fleeting, as they always are for immortals. She found it too sorrowful and tiresome to mourn every lover she lost, so she decided to merely watch, to live vicariously through the humans whom she gave shelter to. 

 

Until the day a pair of lovers entered her forest unlike any she’d seen before. 

 

Two teenage boys, both gangly, thin, and dirty, tumbled through the meadow with such a loud noise that even Soojung heard it from the heart of the forest. When she reached the forest’s edge to see what was going on, the boys were already on their way in. She felt the love, even from a distance. It wasn’t spoken yet, in fact she doubted that either of them knew it existed given their youth and inexperience. But she felt it. 

She felt love thrumming in the veins of the light haired boy’s arms as he arm wrestled his dark-haired friend on the stump of a willow tree. She felt love in the brightness of the dark-haired boy’s smile when he won, chanting to the sky and the canopy about his victory. She touched a tree trunk and it sensed her wish. The leaves shook, tumbling down around the dark-haired boy in celebration of his victory. The awe etched into the boy’s faces left a pleasant ache in Soojung’s heart that she hadn’t felt in centuries. 

 

She began to await them at the forest every day. Junmyeon, the meadow spirit, would often send word with the breeze when the boys approached. The wind danced around her, lifting her hair and tickling her ear with stories of lands far away, but the only knews Soojung cared about was that of her beloved boys. When they came to the forest, she willed the trees to retract their roots so the boys might not trip, she willed the canopy to thin so that their path might be well lit. 

 

And when the boys grew older, filled out in face and muscle and grew so achingly handsome her heart crooned melancholy love songs, she stopped retracting tree roots and growing colorful mushrooms in their footprints. Instead, she made willow groves for them, with curtains so heavy the outside world couldn’t look in on them as the boys explored each other and tested the boundaries of their relationship. Soojung gave them privacy, to an extent. Their grove was theirs, she never peeked in. She made it for them, not for her. But when they emerged, she was always silently following, leaning against a tree trunk or lying across the bough of a branch as the boys laughed and kissed and filled the forest with more love than any couple before them. And on those nights where they never left the grove, Soojung begged the Moon for a favor, to shine a bit brighter, a bit longer, just for them. 

 

Soojung often didn’t exist in her human form. Sometimes she was a white doe, sometimes a starling, and if she felt particular playful, a bumblebee. But on the rare occasion she was in human form, she dressed not in robes and dresses made of grasses or flowers as Junmyeon and other spirits did. She dressed in actual human clothes, favoring short skirts, loose blouses, and boxy dresses. However she never wears shoes, she can’t stand the thought of not having her feet in contact with the soil of her forest. 

 

One day, a day of particularly bright sunlight (the Sun must be happy today, she mused), Soojung was walking through one of her favorite arbors. She leaned down, pressing her ears to the lips of the flowers and letting them inform her of how they’re growing, whether or not they’d like to be moved, as well as the latest gossip from other forests and meadows. Soojung wished she could do this more often, she knows the tulips have the best stories (after all it was through them she heard about Junmyeon’s affair with a lake nymph named Sehun). Soojung was so enamoured by their murmurs that she didn’t notice the presence behind her. When the tulips fell silent and a shadow stretched over her she turned, peering up. 

 

Above her, handsome as the devil and soft as silk, stood one of her boys. The light haired one. Jongin. She sat still, her legs crossed in the lotus position, peering up at him. She never saw him from this close, he was even more handsome in person. The jawline that looked so sharp suddenly looked soft under the delicate caramel skin that she asked the sun to kiss just a tad more than normal. He was radiant. 

 

And Jongin stared. Stared down at the girl who had a rosy aura, who had all of the flowers in the meadow leaning towards her, as if awaiting her next breath. Suddenly his white shirt was too hot, his suspenders too tight. He was flustered, and he ran a hand through his hair, opening his mouth. 

 

“Who are you?”

 

And his voice broke open a magic that swept over the arbor, making the flowers shiver in delight. And Soojung smiled and it was like cool honey on a hot day. She stood slowly, untangling her legs and standing up to her full height. She was much shorter than him still, she had to tilt her head up to see him. But her hand was cool against his sun-warmed skin, and where her fingers touched, golden rose petals appeared, sticking to his skin. 

“I am everything,” she responded, brushing her thumb over his lips before she melted away into dandelion puffs. And Jongin wanted to scream “Wait” but his voice was stolen with the wind that swept Soojung away. 

 

(Soojung’s essence reassembles in a tree branch high above the arbor, watching as Taemin enters, looking for Jongin. She watches with heart thumping as Jongin recounts a tale of meeting a beautiful woman, a goddess, he insists. And Taemin, sweet Taemin with hair like rich ebony wood, believes every word Jongin says, promises they’ll come back tomorrow, and gently steers Jongin home.)

 

They don’t come back tomorrow, or the next day. Winter seeps into the woods, and Soojung’s heart struggles to beat with the lack of growth in the forest. But she has not lived this long to be beaten by one mildly bad winter, and she sticks through it, living on the remnant bits of love her boys left behind.


	2. Deux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jongin and Taemin return to their forest, and Soojung gets a visit from an old friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'll start off by saying i am so sorry this took so long to update ;; the result is a long, unbeta'd ending to this entirely selfishly written story. i apologize for any mistakes and i hope you enjoy part 2!!

When spring comes, Jongin begs Taemin to go to the forest, to the arbor, to where he saw the beautiful woman. 

Jongin fell in love that day, Taemin knows. But Taemin isn’t resentful. Most people fall out of love when they fall in love with someone new, but not Jongin. Jongin’s soul was overflowing with love. It tumbled out of him in many forms, in laughter and thanks to children who ran up to him with scarves and mittens they each made as presents for him, and in smiles for the old women whose baskets he and Taemin would carry to the well. Jongin’s love was everywhere and for everyone. It was seeped into the walls of their tiny cabin, it danced through town on the breeze that preceded their entrance. Jongin had enough for everyone, and a little extra for Taemin.

But nowhere was Jongin’s love more saturated than in that forest. The forest with the trees that moved from their paths to make way for Taemin and Jongin. The forest with the willows that hid their love until they were ready to share it with their village. The forest where their love began. The forest with Jongin’s mysterious woman. 

Taemin never met her, she had only appeared to Jongin. He was curious to see if she was as Jongin described her. She wore village clothes, so he and Jongin asked around all winter but no one had heard of her. Though, to be fair, Jongin’s description of “hair made of copper” and “eyes as rich as coal” were weirdly specific. Taemin promised that when spring came they would return to the forest and find her. 

When the first apple bud became a full blossom, Jongin was already bounding for the meadow that led to the trees. Taemin waved to their landlord, a short but muscular man named Minseok and asked him to watch the property while they left for the day. Minseok agreed, watching Taemin sprint after his lover.   
Jongin’s adrenaline was soaring, his hair, long from having grown out during the winter, fell into his eyes and stuck to the sweat on is brow as he paused in the middle of the forest. The trees still looked thin, their foliage peeking out shyly and thinly. This late in spring, the forest should be flourishing. Taemin caught up to Jongin and they shared a look. Jongin knew Taemin was thinking the same thing he was.

It was as if the forest hadn’t fully woken up yet. 

Jongin’s hand found Taemin’s, their fingers interlaced. They walked on. As they walked, the trees didn’t part for them as usual, Taemin stumbled once over a root that he knew had never been on the path before. 

When the pair arrived at their willow clearing, they saw the circle of trees dangling naked arms, skeletal looking almost. The bed of moss and flower petals they laid on in the center was shrivelled and dry, but not unoccupied. In the center of the bed was a girl with white hair. She sat with her back to the boys, unaware of their approach. One willow tree was draped over her, its branches moving and wiping at her face, hidden from view. 

Jongin’s grip on Taemin’s hand tightened, but Taemin knew. He knew from the moment they entered the clearing. Jongin’s mystery woman. The girl from the forest. 

Jongin took a step forward, still holding tightly to Taemin. His foot made contact with a branch, and the snap rang through the forest like a gunshot. The willow straightened up quick as lightning, and the girl’s head whipped around. In the instant Taemin saw her face, he saw shining tears against an arrestingly beautiful face, before she melted away into gold rose petals. 

Jongin cried out, Taemin didn’t hear exactly what he said, it was like his sense of hearing was muffled with cotton. The rose petals floated up and up, though there was no wind, before they glided into the skeletal trees and dispersed. 

Jongin turned to Taemin, his face crestfallen and dull. Taemin reached up, kissing his lips once. “We’ll follow her,” he promised. Jongin smiled weakly, and took his hand again. They made their way through the forest again, Taemin leading this time. 

//

Soojung’s essence reassembled underneath the roots of a freshwater mangrove tree that grew in a pond near the edge of her forest. Her aura was going wild, fluttering around her in orange with flashes of red; if she had a heartbeat it would be racing. Her boys were back. They had returned to her. She leaned back into the tree, its roots encasing her in an embrace, and listened to what it told her. Her boys were making their way through the forest, their path a bit too far to the left to cross with hers. 

There were stutters in the trees words, and she pet the roots with a soft hand. She sensed it was still sleepy from winter. Her whole forest was sleeping in late, including her. In her longing for her boys she forgot to properly wake the forest, nurture it. Her aura reflected that, now it was calmer and back to a weak, golden glow. She stood up, letting the roots melt back into the water and made her way across the still frozen surface of the pond. She paused when a gust of wind announced the arrival of a figure behind her. 

“Is the prettiest forest nymph going to ignore me forever?” 

She turned and smiled when she saw her good friend. He had golden hair and wore a loose white shirt with a low v and baggy pants. A golden chord was tied around the pants to hold them up. His eyes were the color of topaz and his smile reminded Soojung of a cat, warmed by the sun and ready for mischief. His arms were spread wide in expectancy of a hug. 

“Dae!” She shouted for joy and ran to him, embracing him like an excited child. He laughed, a high and loud sound, and his warmth seeped into her blouse. When he pulled away he held her at arm’s length. 

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen you up close, I see my rays haven’t been kind to you. Why is your complexion so pale?”

Soojung huffed in annoyance. “Dae, it’s been winter. You know I stay as a white doe during winter. Also it’s not my fault you never come down and visit. All you do is drive that chariot in the sky.”

 

“My name is Soojung and I’m neglecting my forest and when my friend The Sun decides to visit I’m going to critique his job even though I have no idea how difficult it is to drive a flaming chariot pulled by horses made of literal light.” Jongdae mimicked her tone in falsetto, smiling self-satisfied when she pouted up at him. He continued. “You’re lucky I convinced Baekhyun to swap with me. The aurora horses weren’t happy that a new driver was beginning dawn.”

“I am not ignoring my forest. I’m just… Slow to wake up.” She stared at her toes as she said that, watching as Jongae’s warmth melted the ice over the pond. It didn’t matter, their feet still floated on the surface of the water. 

“Its mid-May, Soojung. Your pond is still frozen, Junmyeon’s wildflowers are fully in bloom and all of the other water nymphs have let me melt the ice over their domains. Speaking of which, where is the nymph of this pool?”

Soojung pursed her lips, rocking back and forth on her heels while staring intently away from Jongdae at nothing in particular. 

He pinched the bridge of his nose, his head tilting down. “Soojung… Did your nymph leave?”

“He’s still here!” She insisted. “tao’s just… Staying with Sehun right now in the lake. Speaking of Sehun, I’m going to kill his lover. Junmyeon always sends me word with the breeze when my boys are coming, he didn’t do it this time and I was caught off guard!”

“He didn’t send it because he didn’t think you were awake, Soojung. No one does.” Jongdae stepped forward, closer to Soojung. “All of this over two mortal boys? Mortal love is fleeting, Soojung. You know that, you and I used to sit together and watch lovers come and go through your forest.” His voice grew tender and soft, his hand reached up to cup her cheek. 

She shied away from the warmth, though she placed a kiss on his cheek. Where her lips were, a golden rose petal appeared. “All of that is true, Jongdae. But these boys are different. I’ve never seen anyone overflowing with such love. Mortal or immortal.”

“That’s because you have never let me properly court you,” he said with a frustrated huff, though it was mostly posturing. He had learned long ago that Soojung was not the kind to love him from a distance while he drove the Sun chariot, she wanted a presence there for her. 

Soojung allowed one toe to dip beneath the surface of the now melted pond, letting the passing fish nip at it before they went on their way. “Dae, you know my feelings for you. And you know better than anyone my feelings for these boys. All those days I begged favors from you to stay longer in the sky.” She smiled at the memory.

Jongdae scoffed, crossing his arms again. “Yeah, I remember. Yixing is still pissed at me for doing all that, by the way.”

Soojung chuckled at the thought of the gentle Moon chariot driver getting annoyed. 

Jongdae softened and brushed back her white hair. He recalled a time when it was warm brown, and she still dressed in flower petals and white birch dresses with maple crowns on her brow. “Still, I would do a thousand favors for you, Soojung. You need only ask.”

“I have one,” she whispered, her head tilting up to look into golden eyes that had seen every inch of the world since the beginning of time. “Help me wake up my forest, and bring my boys back to me.”

Jongdae darted down quickly, stealing a kiss from the corner of her lips before she could respond. “Consider it done.” He snapped his fingers and a ball of sunlight sprung from them, floating up and up before bursting in a rain of beams, spreading through Soojung’s forest.

She grinned and ran to a nearby tree, whispering soft words to the bark. With a shake, the tree began to grow leaves, absorbing the beams around it rapidly. She ran from tree to tree, spreading the word to wake up, grow quickly, your love has returned!

She grabbed the hand of a passing wind spirit, telling it to give message to tao that his pond was awaiting its guardian. By the time she was finished and returned to the pond, the sun was starting to hang low in the sky. Jongdae was gone, she assumed he was going to retrieve the dusk horses from Baekhyun’s other stable at the end of the sky. Soon the Dusk chariot would bathe the sky in the colors of the sunset, but for now she reached out to a tree. 

“I know you have done much today. But please, where are they?”

The tree was old, it was one of the oldest in Soojung’s forest and knew her better than all others. In a sigh of falling leaves, she learned that Jongin and Taemin were sleeping in their willow. They had fallen asleep of exhaustion just before Jongdae’s arrival and had slept through most of the afternoon. The poor things, they were probably exhausted from searching for her. She thanked the tree and pressed her aura into it, giving it a little extra boost before she rushed through the forest to her loves.

//

When Taemin wakes, it’s late in the day. The sunlight is the bright gold of just before dusk as it slants through the leaves of the willows. Wait, leaves?

He sits up straight as a bullet, then quickly looks to his side to make sure he hasn’t woken Jongin. 

 

But Jongin slept on, white hair falling across a golden brow. Figures. Jongin could sleep through a raging thunderstorm and not so much as twitch. When Taemin looks up again he’s face to face with a girl.

He jerks back on impulse and the girl smiles. It’s Jongin’s mystery woman, the goddess. Taemin leans in again, now he and the girl are very close. “Who are you?” He unknowingly echoes the first words his lover spoke to the woman. 

“I am everything,” Soojung responds again, pressing her lips to Taemin’s in a ghost of a kiss.

Taemin touches his lips, pulling away a rose petal the color of daylight as the girl rises. 

“I’m sorry I took so long to make this presentable for you,” she says, taking a falling leaf out of the air. She blows on it and Taemin watches in wonder as it floats back up to its tree, reattaching itself to the bough. “But the forest is alive and wide awake now just for you, dearest one.”

“I don’t think I follow,” Taemin says, his voice coming out surprisingly steady.

The girl laughs and Taemin’s heart wants to jump out of his chest and run to the sound. “That’s alright Taemin, I know this is a lot to take in. Firstly, my name is Soojung, and I’m the nymph of this forest. But before I explain, could you wake up Jongin? I think he’d like to hear too.”

Taemin blinks in confusion but still obeys, turning to wake his lover up in the one way that won’t make him grumpy.

Taemin’s always loved the feeling of Jongin’s lips against his, they’re soft and malleable especially after sleep. When Taemin feels the push back, he knows Jongin is awake. He pulls away and sweeps hair away from Jongin’s face. “We found her,” he whispers against Jongin’s cheek.

Jongin’s eyes shoot open and he peers around Taemin’s shoulder, looking up at Soojung. He stands fully and Taemin follows. The girl is much smaller than them, Taemin observes. 

Jongin steps forward, his hand extending slowly. “It’s you,” he rasps, sleep still heavy in his voice. 

“Yes, love. It is.” She takes his hand, it’s so tiny in his, and she holds it tight. She extends her other hand to Taemin and he takes it without hesitation.

“Let me tell you who I am,” she says, looking up at them. 

She tells them about her guardianship over this forest. About the way she has watched them grow, though still giving them space. She tells them of nymphs and spirits, and the beings of nature. She answers Taemin’s endless questions with infinite patience, she lets Jongin droop his head onto her lap while he presses kisses to Taemin’s fingers. 

As the three of them share stories, kisses, and love in the willow grove, growing and exploring each other in the way Taemin and Jongin had long ago, Jongdae drives the Dusk chariot low across the sky and into the sea. When he steps off the chariot and into the stables, there are nymphs running around to prepare the moonlight horses for the Moon chariot. Yixing walks in, drawing on white gloves to match an immaculate white suit, and Jongdae stretches out an arm to stop him. “This evening, maybe, could you wait a little longer before driving out?”

Yixing stares at Jongdae before deadpanning. “How many favors have you and Soojung now asked of me, hm? Why do I bother driving the moon out at all?”

Jongdae winces at Yixing’s tone. “Please. She’s just woken up, she has her mortals now, give her a few more hours of daylight before they have to leave her.”

Yixing softens at his colleague's earnest one-sided love. Jongdae was doomed to love Soojung forever, it was clear by how whipped he was. He claps a hand on Jongdae’s shoulder. “For you, old friend, any favor.”

“Not me, her.” And Jongdae looks out, he sees Soojung stretched across moss and flower beds, her boys sleeping beside her as the final rays of the sunset linger in the sky without the moon to fill it. She is glowing, brighter than he has ever seen her before. And when she presses her lips to both of the mortals, they wrap around her protectively. She is safe. And loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jongdae's nickname is dae because... day... sunlight... he's the sun. get it?? okay enough of that. this is complete!! officially!!!! thank you for being so patient with me and i sincerely hope this was enjoyable for you!

**Author's Note:**

> There is a part two coming I know this is shorter than what I usually put out (and much more vanilla) but a part two is coming this was an impulse wrote-and-post but thank you for reading anyways


End file.
